Certification of Trust Requirements in Alaska

At a glance

Requirements one by one

Alaska requires eight information groups

AS § 13.36.079(a) lets a trustee furnish a certification instead of the trust instrument to a person other than a beneficiary, except as the trust instrument otherwise provides. The certification must state the trust's existence and execution date, settlor identity, the current trustee's identity and address, trustee powers, revocability and any revocation-power holder, cotrustee document-authentication and power-exercise authority, and the manner of taking title to trust property.

Alaska also requires the trust's taxpayer identification number if the trust has one. Subsection (c) separately requires a statement that no revocation, modification, or amendment makes the certification's representations incorrect.

Any trustee may authenticate without a universal notary ceremony

Section 13.36.079(b) permits any trustee to sign or otherwise authenticate the certification. It does not require every cotrustee to execute it merely because the certification must report how many cotrustees are needed to authenticate related documents or exercise trustee powers.

The certification section does not prescribe an oath, acknowledgment, witness, or notarial act. A separate transaction or recordability formality should not be stated as a universal condition under § 13.36.079.

Alaska's conditional TIN and title fields are mandatory when applicable

The TIN field is conditional: subsection (a)(7) requires it “if the trust has a taxpayer identification number.” The text does not authorize omitting an existing TIN merely because the recipient does not ordinarily ask for it.

Subsection (a)(8) separately requires the manner of taking title to trust property. That is a title-format statement, not a requirement to attach a property inventory, legal description, parcel number, account list, or mineral schedule.

Dispositive terms may stay private, subject to narrow excerpts

Under § 13.36.079(d), the certification is not required to contain dispositive terms. Subsection (e) permits the recipient to require excerpts from the original instrument, including amendments, that designate the trustee and confer power for the pending transaction for which the certification is furnished.

The recipient's express excerpt right focuses on trustee status and transaction authority. It is not an automatic right to every trust provision or the complete instrument.

Reliance, enforcement, and demand remedies have separate tests

Section 13.36.079(f) protects reasonable reliance without knowledge that the certification is wrong and permits assumption of the certified facts without inquiry. Holding part of the trust instrument does not by itself impute knowledge of its terms.

Subsection (g) requires good faith and reasonable reliance to enforce the transaction against trust property as though the certification were correct. When a court finds a full-instrument demand in addition to the certification or excerpts was not made in good faith, subsection (h) imposes a civil penalty payable to the state of up to $1,000 plus actual damages. Subsection (i) also imposes actual court costs and attorney fees. Judicial access remains available under subsection (j).

What trips people up

• The trust instrument may change the certification route. Subsection (a) begins with an exception for what the trust instrument otherwise provides.
• The TIN duty is conditional, not optional. It applies whenever the trust has a taxpayer identification number.
• The penalty is payable to the state. It is separate from the demand-related actual damages, court costs, and attorney fees.
• The section states no recording consequence. It does not require recording or state a notice, priority, conveyance, or other real-property effect.

Common questions

Does Alaska require the certification to state the trust's name?

No. The complete eight-item list in § 13.36.079(a) does not include a trust-name field, though it does require the trust's existence and instrument date.

May a beneficiary be given this statutory substitute?

Not under subsection (a)'s substitute-document route. It applies to a person other than a beneficiary.

Can a litigant still obtain the full trust instrument?

Yes. Section 13.36.079(j) preserves the right to obtain it in a judicial proceeding concerning the trust.

Statutes and sources

• AS § 13.36.079(a)-(j) — availability, eight required information groups, conditional TIN, title manner, any-trustee authentication, no-inaccuracy statement, privacy and excerpts, reasonable reliance, good-faith enforcement, civil penalty, damages, court costs, attorney fees, and judicial access. Alaska State Legislature (accessed 2026-07-31).